Our pasta, who art in a colander,
Draining be your noodles.
Thy noodle come,
Thy sauce be yum,
On top some grated parmesan.
Give us this day our garlic bread,
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trample on our lawns.
And lead us not into vegetarianism, but deliver us some pizza,
For thine is the meatball, the noodle, and the sauce, forever and ever.
-R'Amen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWXoRSIxyIU

Destroying 'climate change is a hoax' bullshit quite thoroughly.

“My anaconda don’t want none unless you got sons, hun”
— Malcador the Sigillite, right before the creation of the Primarchs


“And lo did the Blessed Primarch Lorgar say “Bitches ain’t shit.” And he brought down his mighty crozius on a fly’s head, ruining Horus’ table in the process.”
— Epistle 43435000 of Lorgar (A Study In Mahogany)



“And lo did Great Horus make the decision for his legion’s armor to be changed to dark green. For, let it be said, chaotic corruption is a gift acquired, but fashion sense is a gift given at birth.
And the Blessed Primarch Lorgar did try to claw his eyes out.

And Konrad Curze had a seizure.

And a million voices screamed in horror as Angron, of the World Eaters was driven into a red, unspeakable rage at this decision.”
— Epistle 24900912 of Lorgar (Girl, that breastplate with these pauldrons?)



“And lo did Fabius Bile present his clone of Great Horus to Abaddon, he who would be the Despoiler.
And Abaddon did blush, and he spake his mind. “I don’t like men with too many muscles.”

And Fabius did glare at the new Warmaster, and declared in anger. “I didn’t make him for YOU!””
— Epistle 32895742535 of Lorgar (I’m Just A Sweet Apothecary)



“Fuckin’ ‘Nids”
— Ancient Ultramarine Proverb (via tittenkits)



“And lo did Great Horus wrap his arms around Fulgrim’s waist, and he no, don’t write that down, I’m not dictating anym-”
— Epistle 34908269085265908259 of Lorgar (Scrapped Works)



“And lo did Great Horus contemplate his life and choices, for his lieutenants were all balls-to-the-wall fucking crazy, and so he searched for comfort with his brother Fulgrim, whose wise counsel had guided him through the years.
And Fulgrim had replied between snorts of warp dust, ‘I’ve found that a good fisting solves attitude issues.’

And Great Horus did not ask for advice ever again.”
— Epistle 39550666969 of Lorgar (Death Is Nothing Compared To A Couple Hours With The Emperor’s Children)



“And lo did Konrad Curze throw his arms into the air, and he let out a scream, before charging into the battlefield.
And his enemies parted ways, and they revealed their secret weapon, a giant lightbulb.

And the Night Haunter fell on his face, screeching. And Sevatar, wise in his ways, moved next to him, and handed the Primarch a pair of dark shades, and spake as sarcastically as ever. “Ave Dominus Nox.””
— Epistle 342789574 of Lorgar (Jeez Those Night Lords Give Me The Creeps, Book 4)



“And lo did the victory party at Ullanor begin, and the Master of Mankind ran into Kor Phaeron and Erebus in their suits and shades.
And Lord Malcador the Sigillite did blink, and he inquired of His master, “Do they seem odd to you?”

And the Master of Mankind did grin, and he waved a hand dismissively. +NAH, THEY’RE COOL.+

For he was pissed out of his mind.”
—
Epistle 32587 of Lorgar (Fun Times Before The Whole Heresy Mess)



“And lo did Great Horus stand before the Mournival, and thusly he gestured. “Show me what you have prepared, my sons.”
And Abaddon, he who would be the Despoiler, stood forth, and lifted his hands and spake. “It’s fun to stay at the!”

And Horus Aximand, Garviel Loken, and Tarik Torgaddon called out in one voice, “Y… M! C! A!””
— Epistle 2206 of Lorgar (The 666 Slightly Disturbing but Mostly Pleasant Narrations of Erebus from the XVI Legion)

“Corax nodded, just headbanging, suddenly there came a clanging,
As of Curze was roughly banging, banging at The Raven’s door
“Tis an asshole,” Corax muttered, “banging at The Raven’s door,”
“Only Curze, and nothing more.””
— Extract of Corvus Corax’s Actual Autobiographical Poetry


“And lo and behold did Perturabo create the Iron Cage. And thusly he pointed at Rogal Dorn, and spake saying, “Totally not a trap.” And the shitkicker went for it.”
— Epistle 324590003945 of Lorgar ( Build that bitch a fortress, bitches love fortresses )



“And Ahriman looked upon Magnus The Red, as he returned from his trip to Great Horus’ psyche. “Sire, shouldn’t you send a message with an Astropath?” And Magnus gazed upon him, and shook his head, and did he speak the words that damned Prospero and his legion. “Ain’t nobody got time for dat!””
— Epistle 28478800 of Lorgar (You Could Have Sent A Text You Know)


“And lo, Fabius Bile was brought forth to explain the benefits of his research.
And he called out to the crowd, “You get a genetic enhancement! You get a genetic enhancement! EVERYONE GETS A GENETIC ENHANCEMEEEENT!”
But they were not convinced.”
— Epistle 3890325725 of Lorgar (I Think I Lost My Eyeliner: A Biography of Fulgrim)


“And lo did Great Horus get himself stuck on a door, for his power armor had some bloody huge shoulder pads.
And all of his lieutenants did desperately try to get him off, for three standard Terra hours, for they were all approaching the problem in the wrong way.

Abaddon, who was his First Captain, had tried to launch a crusade at the door.

Maloghurst, his equerry, had grumbled at it.

Aximand had done nothing more than cry and beg the door to change its mind.

Erebus, his advisor, had summoned a warp storm around the door.

Fulgrim, who was not a good man, had simply laughed at the Warmaster’s misery.

And finally, Angron had chewed the door to bits, releasing him.

For Lord Khorne gets shit done.”
— Epistle 32785947 of Lorgar (All Aboard the Vengeful Spirit~!)



“And before Great Horus was dead and gone, as he fought with the Anathema, did Kor Phaeron and Erebus catch on, and decided to get the fuck out before they got lynched.
And lo did they jump into their 1974 Dodge Monaco, while under fire by thousands of Rogal Dorn’s weapons. And Kor Phaeron got behind the wheel, and he spake. “It’s a 106 million light years to the Eye of Terror, we got a full tank of promethium, half a stick of incense, it’s the void, and we’re in an M2 car.”

And Erebus nodded. “Hit it.””
— Epistle 358475239052 of Lorgar (Chicken Run: After the Siege)




“And lo did Lord Mortarion of the Death Guard stand before his brother Primarchs and he proclaimed his , “From now on, I shall take a bath every day!”
And the Primarchs, in one voice replied, “Bullshit.””
— Epistle 3248 of Lorgar (Nurgle: Nature’s Way Of Telling You For Fuck’s Sake, Open a Window.)

"I'm here to emancipate you... from your own inferior genes!"
—Abradolf Lincler

The day wore on, the sun hidden behind scudding clouds in a never-ending river of grey.

4chan never ceases to make me laugh to til my sides are in orbit.

Though on this note, it has shown that in the U.S. , 36 percent of women 18-35 play videogames, while 35 percent of men of the same age group do as well.

Younger groups show a statistical increase in boys (38-45 %) and a statistical decrease in women (20-30%) depending on the areas studies.

It was also found that men prefer action or strategy games, while women prefer 'casual' gaming (angry birds, flappy bird, Farmville) and rpg style games instead.

http://rockcandy.se/?page=showflash&id=125

The message it seems to be saying is "Don't take precautions with technology, and use strawman logical fallacies against anybody who tells you otherwise" and the intended audience only thinks with their emotions.

Thanks internet.

So, I'm on Tumblr.

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/nekkofox to be exact.

I don't do much there, really. I post furry porn and artwork, accompany each post with a lame pun, and go about my day. It seems to have caught a little attention, because I'm rapidly approaching 1,250 followers now, and I've only been on it for about a month or so.

On top of that, I follow a few posters on tumblr. 30 or 40 people, most of which don't seem to post much, at all, or haven't in ages, but that's irrelevant. Some of the followers I watch post regular content and it's nice.

And then I see the snowflakes. And I read their posts. And I grind my teeth, cinch my eyes shut, and regulate my breathing.

Angsty, whiny teens proliferate on tumblr, pining for attention and gaining attention from mountains and mountains of like-minded pissants. And they each have to do one of several things;

Prove how much of an individual they are, like this dumb-ass here (seriously, triggers, Neil DeGrasse Tyson?)




Prove that they are more oppressed than you (like it's a fucking pissing contest of misery)



Or scream how you need to learn their pronouns (xim xe xer, and let's not forget things like Planet-self and Princess-self)





Personally, I've found that this all comes off as needlessly contrived. With that irritant is a massive influx of 'sexuals'. Omnisexual, demisexual, parasexual, digisexual, etc. In regards to that topic, I want to smash my head against the desk. Do you fuck people of the same gender? Homosexual preferences. Fuck people of a different gender? Heterosexual. Like to fuck them both? Bisexual. Don't want to fuck? Asexual. And the gradient scale fills all the gaps in between (Gay, but like women. Bi, prefer boys. Lesbian, don't like sex). But now we have people adding more and more to a list of social norms that, frankly, doesn't need to be expanded upon. Do you not have sex unless you get to know someone really well? That's called being "picky about who you bang". You don't really need to add another category to the list. Our culture is already a convoluted mess as it is, it seems redundant to add an EXTRA explanation to something that doesn't need attention. And what's more, it's worn like a goddamned badge of honor. I thought that a person's sexuality was somewhat private, but instead of it taking some time to learn what sexual preferences your new chum has, everyone wants to splatter the information on their blog along with what seems to be a random assortment of nonsense (it's a code, really: "I want more attention than I'm worth") .



And then comes the fishing for compliments (and it's not even gender significant, I've seen boys and girls, of every sexual persuasion, putting on pouty faces and saying they are ugly). These people con other users into mooning over them and expecting glorious, exalted praise if they utter any derisive comment about themselves, no matter how painfully self-deprecating.



I don't have enough kerosene and matches to purge this kind of blight.

And it gets so, so much worse. If you dare have a dissenting opinion or a contrary view on the matter, no matter how unbiased, scientific, logical or common-sense it is, well then, fuck you're face! At least that has, and continues to be, the continued mentality on tumblr. You should see the screaming hate that comes crashing down on anyone who says that 'men can be raped and it's horrible'. The level of bile and venom spewed if you are dismissive of someone saying 'cultural appropriation is wrong!' while you eat a taco and have the gross misfortune of being white.

And then comes 'the privilege'. White? Male? American? Maybe Christian too? BOOM! YOU HAVE ALL THE PRIVILEGE AND YOUR OPINION DOESN'T MATTER! I kid you not, this is a thing. Apparently if you're white and have dangly bits, then you're already not allowed to say 'How you're treating me is unfair. In fact, it's cruel and despicable and I deserve to be treated with respect like any other human being." or any variation thereof, because privilege that's why.

But it's taken one step further. THIN PRIVILEGE!



They also have tall privilege, black privilege, female privilege, male privilege, dwarf privilege (not kidding), it runs the gamut.

From there, they even create unnecessary strife where there needn't be any. Game culture doesn't have enough girls? Well, obviously it's the patriarchy. No genderqueer entities in warhammer? Better make a list of demands about what you expect to see in this hyper-militant testosterone-fueled world. Not enough minorities represented in the McDonald's commercial? Put in some minorities or we'll boycott you! Too many minorities represented in the McDonald's commercial? You're stereotyping minroties so we're going to boycott you! So on and so forth.

Hell, just being yourself is apparently oppressive to people, even if you're someone who is "oppressed"



And then we have the whole 'imaginary friend' thing that's gotten out of control. Head-mates. It's the hip new term for having an imaginary friend that's not only ridiculous and stupid, but made more so by the demand that it be considered socially acceptable to walk around and act this way.



I like how fictitious entities are in there, as well as Leonardo DiCaprio, but I've seen much worse. People have inanimate entities (Buddha statues, planets, stars, galaxies, old shirts or blankets). All I can do is try and keep my jaw from dropping as I read the potentially lethal amounts of stupid radiating from a single website.

Now, I'm a 4chan user. /b/ of all things. I've seen some shit. LOTS of shit. I've seen threads that are centered around gore, violence, death, destruction, bestiality, rape, murder, arson, theft. I've seen discussions range from cultured dialogue to shit-slinging contests. I've read threads that covered topics ranging from child prostitution in foreign countries to pushing partners down stairs to abort pregnancies to the cultural impact of marrying your waifu anime pillow to the best way to chop up and dispose of human bodies. After a while you get desensitized by page after page of irreverent horror regularly appearing on your screen. You don't mind the people playing the ping-pong match of racial-slurs. You skip past and yawn when you see someone fucking their horse. Hell, you might find a new fetish you didn't know you had and might start a fap folder, or be able to point to a picture and say "Man, I love that pic, first saw it three years ago in a rekt thread". You learn to dehumanize and laugh at the somber or unexplainably horrible. Hell, why do you think I post cub porn? It stops being a problem because your morality shifts, or you abandon it all together.



But then I turned around and saw tumblr and my eyebrows raised. Was this for real? People thinking this way? Doing this shit? It had to be ironic, that's why these people talk this way. But no, many of these morons whole-heartedly, and without reserve, believe what they post is accurate and true. As a person who can read through a thread about how Hitler did nothing wrong and laugh at holocaust jokes, it was a bit of a surprise to find how much I found their posts to be offensive. Not because it's inherently offensive by what is said, but by the complete lack of intelligence in anything they have to say. And I can tolerate a lot of bullshit.



But then I realized something. They're kids. snot-nosed, pretentious kids. Sure, some are in their 20's, but considering their maturity, I feel I'm justified in still calling them kids.

So I invite them out of their little sheltered bubble of a blog they call 'home page'. I introduce them to the monsters in /pol/. I give them a tour of /k/. I let them browse /b/.

It all starts the same way. Outrage that they can't like or dislike posts. Disgust at the content or message. And then the arguments start. They find a post that they decide they can handle, and respond to it.

But they don't realize what will happen next. Cat-calls, jeering, jabs and jibes, of course. But then someone posts an intelligent retort. They explain WHY Hitler did nothing wrong. They point out HOW the Jews are the root of the world's evil. They explain at great length what makes OP a fag, and how many dicks you can suck for bothering to respond.

And so it begins. First they come in, guns-blazing, eager to make others check their privilege... but slowly, almost imperceptibly, they notice a change. While they don't agree with some (or any) of what is being posted, they start seeing different opinions. And they come back, maybe just every now and again to scream about privilege or patriarchy or head-mates at the people on the boards, and each time they leave a little more jaded, a little more poisoned, just one more toxic thought siphoned away. And before they know it, they go back to tumblr and look around. The SJW crowd they were in seems close-minded, their arguments fallacious, their posts vacuous and their opinions boring.


Next thing they know, they are calling posters on other sites 'Fag', they start chuckling when they see Hitler eating a water-melon, they fap to cub or loli or tentacle hentai, they call fat people 'landwhale' or 'hambeast', they look at a black person in a picture with a bike and immediately caption it with "Implying that it's his bike", they start looking up nazi uniforms because they look cool... then they look in the mirror and discover that what they are now isn't who they thought they would be when they were on Tumblr.

They've become Anon, not some piss-dribbling Tumblrfag. Gender no longer matters, sexuality doesn't matter, politics don't matter, hell, even your opinions don't matter.

Because you realize that no one really gives a shit about your feelings or what you think is considered 'fair' or 'inoffensive'.

And that's just fine.

"The dome was inlaid with thousands of tiny panes of colored glass that cast sunlight onto the floor in colored shapes, as if someone had spilled a basket of jewels across the flagstones."

Lovecraft on religion

Lovecraft's works are ruled by several distinct pantheons of deities (actually aliens who are worshiped by humans as deities) who are either indifferent or actively hostile to humanity. Lovecraft's actual philosophy has been termed "cosmic indifferentism" and this is expressed in his fiction. Several of Lovecraft's stories of the Old Ones (alien beings of the Cthulhu Mythos), propose alternate mythic human origins in contrast to those found in the creation stories of existing religions, expanding on a natural world view. For instance, in Lovecraft's "At the Mountains of Madness" it is proposed that humankind was actually created as a slave race by the Old Ones. Protagonist characters in Lovecraft are usually educated men, citing scientific and rationalist evidence to support their non-faith. Herbert West–Reanimator reflects on the atheism common within academic circles. In "The Silver Key", the character Randolph Carter loses the ability to dream and seeks solace in religion, specifically Congregationalism, but does not find it and ultimately loses faith.

Lovecraft himself adopted the stance of atheism early in his life. In 1932 he wrote in a letter to Robert E. Howard: "All I say is that I think it is damned unlikely that anything like a central cosmic will, a spirit world, or an eternal survival of personality exist. They are the most preposterous and unjustified of all the guesses which can be made about the universe, and I am not enough of a hairsplitter to pretend that I don't regard them as arrant and negligible moonshine. In theory I am an agnostic, but pending the appearance of radical evidence I must be classed, practically and provisionally, as an atheist."

A letter on Religion H. P. Lovecraft
In 1918 H. P Lovecraft at the age of 28 wrote the following letter to his friend Maurice W. Moe

Your wonderment “What I have against religion” reminds me of your recent Vagrant essay—which I had the honor of perusing in manuscript some three years ago. To my mind, that essay misses one point altogether. Your “agnostic” has neglected to mention the very crux of all agnosticism—namely that the Judaeo-Christian mythology is NOT TRUE. I can see that in your philosophy truth per se has so small a place that you can scarcely realize what it is that Galpin and I are insisting upon. In your mind, MAN is the center of everything, and his exact conformation to certain regulations of conduct HOW EVER EFFECTED, the only problem in the universe. Your world (if you will pardon my saying so) is contracted.All the mental vigor and erudition of the ages fail to disturb your complacent endorsement of empirical doctrines and purely pragmatic notions, because you voluntarily limit your horizon—excluding certain facts, and certain undeniable mental tendencies of mankind.

In your eyes, man is torn between only two influences: the degrading instincts of the savage, and the temperate impulses of the philanthropist. To you, men are of but two classes—lovers of self and lovers of the race. To you, men have but two types of emotion—self-gratification, to be combated; and altruism, to be fostered. But you, consciously or unconsciously, are leaving out a vast and potent tertium quid —making an omission, which cannot but interfere with the validity of your philosophical conceptions. You are forgetting a human impulse that, despite its restriction to a relatively small number of men, has all through history proved itself as real and as vital as hunger—as potent as thirst or greed. I need not say that I refer to that simplest yet most exalted attribute of our species—the acute, persistent, unquenchable craving TO KNOW. Do you realize that to many men it makes a vast and profound difference whether or not the things about them are as they appear?…

I recognize a distinction between dream life and real life, between appearances and actualities. I confess to an overpowering desire to know whether I am asleep or awake—whether the environment and laws that affect me are external and permanent, or the transitory products of my own brain. I admit that I am very much interested in the relation I bear to the things about me—the time relation, the space relation, and the causative relation. I desire to know approximately what my life is in terms of history—human, terrestrial, solar, and cosmical; what my magnitude may be in terms of extension,—terrestrial, solar, and cosmical; and above all, what may be my manner of linkage to the general system—in what way, through what agency, and to what extent, the obvious guiding forces of creation act upon me and govern my existence. And if there be any less obvious forces, I desire to know them and their relation to me as well. Foolish, do I hear you say? Undoubtedly! I had better be a consistent pragmatist: get drunk and confine myself to a happy, swinish, contented little world—the gutter—till some policeman’s No. 13 boot intrudes upon my philosophic repose. But I cannot. Why? Because some well-defined human impulse prompts me to discard the relative for the absolute. You would encourage me as far as the moral stage. You would agree with me that I had better see the world as it is than to forget my woes in the flowing bowl. But because I have a certain momentum, and am carried a step further from the merely relative, you frown upon me and declare me to be a queer, unaccountable creature, “immersed…in the VICIOUS abstractions of philosophy!”

Here, then, is the beginning of my religious or philosophical thought. I have not begun talking about morality yet, because I have not reached that point in the argument. Entity precedes morality. It is a prerequisite. What am I? What is the nature of the energy about me, and how does it affect me? So far I have seen nothing which could possibly give me the notion that cosmic force is the manifestation of a mind and will like my own infinitely magnified; a potent and purposeful consciousness which deals individually and directly with the: miserable denizens of a wretched little fly speck on the back door of a microscopic universe, and which singles this putrid excrescence out as the one spot whereto to send an only-begotten Son, whose mission is to redeem those accursed fly speck-inhabiting lice which we call human beings—bah!! Pardon the “bah!” I feel several “bahs!,” but out of courtesy I only say one. But it is all so very childish. I cannot help taking exception to a philosophy that would force this rubbish down my throat. “What have I against religion?” That is what I have against it!…

Now let us view morality —which despite your preconceived classification and identification has nothing to do with any particular form of religion.Morality is the adjustment of matter to its environment—the natural arrangement of molecules. More especially it may be considered as dealing with organic molecules. Conventionally it is the science of reconciling the animal Homo (more or less) sapiens to the forces and conditions with which he is surrounded. It is linked with religion only so far as the natural elements it deals with are deified and personified. Morality antedated the Christian religion,and has many times risen superior to coexistent religions. It has powerful support from very non-religious human impulses. Personally, I am intensely moral and intensely irreligious. My morality can be traced to two distinct sources, scientific and aesthetic. My love of truth is outraged by the flagrant disturbance of sociological relations involved in so-called wrong; whilst my aesthetic sense is outraged and disgusted with the violations of taste and harmony thereupon attendant. But to me the question presents no ground for connexion with the groveling instinct of religion. However—you may exclude me from the argument, if you will. I am unduly secluded though unavoidably so. We will deal only with materials that may presumably lie within my feeble reach. Only one more touch of ego. I am not at all passive or indifferent in my zeal for a high morality. But I cannot consider morality the essence of religion, as you seem to. In discussing religion, the whole fabric must bear examination before the uses or purposes are considered. We must investigate the cause as well as alleged effects if we are to define the relation between the two, and the reality of the former. And more, granting that the phenomenon of faith is indeed the true cause of the observed moral effects; the absolute basis of that phenomenon remains to be examined. The issue between theist sand atheists is certainly not, as you seem to think, the mere question of whether religion is useful or detrimental. In your intensely pragmatic mind, this question stands paramount—to such an extent that you presented no other subject of discussion in your very clever Vagrant article. But the “agnostic” of your essay must have been a very utilitarian agnostic (that such “utilitarian Agnostics” do exist, I will not deny. Vide any issue of The Truth-seeker! But are they typical?)! What the honest thinker wishes to know, has nothing to do with complex human conduct. He simply demands a scientific explanation of the things he sees. His only animus toward the church concerns its deliberate inculcation of demonstrable untruths in the community. This is human nature. No matter how white a lie may be—no matter how much good it may do—we are always more or less disgusted by its diffusion. The honest agnostic regards the church with respect for what it has done in the direction of virtue. He even supports it if he is magnanimous, and he certainly does nothing to impair whatever public usefulness it may possess. But in private, he would be more than a mere mortal if he were able to suppress a certain abstract resentment, or to curb the feeling of humor and so-called irreverence which inevitably arises from the contemplation of pious fraud, howsoever high-minded and benevolent.

The good effects of Christianity are neither to be denied, nor lightly esteemed, though candidly I will admit that I think them overrated. For example,the insignia of the Red Cross is practically the only religious thing about it. It is purely humanitarian and philanthropic, and has received just as much of its vitality from agnostic—or Jewish—sources, as from Christian sources…. These nominally Christian societies usurp the lion’s share of social service merely because they are on the ground first. Free and rational thought is relatively new, and rationalists find it just as practicable to support these exiting Christian charities as to organize new ones that might create a division of energy and therefore decrease the efficiency of organized charity as a whole. And by the way—was not Belgium relief work largely non-religious? I may be mistaken —but all this is aside from my main argument anyway. I am not protesting against the recognition of Christianity’s accomplishments. This has nothing to do with absolute basis of faith.

http://www.iflscience.com/environment/myths-and-controversies-gmos-0

What You Need To Know About Genetically Modified Organisms

Genetically modified crops are a topic of intense debate that have sparked a lot of controversy over the years, fuelled largely through a lack of understanding and vast amounts of misinformation. Do we need GM crops? Are they dangerous? This article is going to give a brief overview of this huge topic and also discuss some of the myths and facts of GMOs.

What Are GMOs?

Humans have been modifying the genomes of plants and animals for our benefit for thousands of years using a process known as artificial selection, or selective breeding. This involves selecting organisms with desirable traits and breeding them so that certain characteristics are perpetuated. This could be a teacup dog, a cow with improved milk production or a fruit without seeds. However, this is limited to naturally occurring variations, which is where genetic engineering has found a place.


Genetic engineering allows us to introduce genes into an organism from a totally unrelated species which is commonly carried out on crops, agricultural animals and bacteria. These genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are designed for many reasons, including: pesticide and disease resistance, drought/frost resistance, increased yields, enhanced nutritional content and as a way to produce drugs or vaccines at low cost on a large scale. When most people consider GMOs they think of agriculture, but the medical implications are wide ranging. For example, genetically engineered bacteria now produce insulin, saving the lives of millions of type 1 diabetics.

Why Do We Need GMOs?

While it is true that a major problem with feeding an over burgeoning global population relates to the distribution of the food that we do produce, if population growth does not slow down then we are going to need to find new ways to meet food demands. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN has estimated that we will need to grow 70% more food by 2050.

There are several ways that this could be achieved. We could destroy valuable rainforests to make way for agricultural land, but I don’t need to go into the reasons why we should not do this. We could stop eating as much meat, given that the crop calories we feed to animals could meet the calorie needs of 4 billion people, but few are willing to do this and meat consumption has quadrupled in the last 50 years. We could invest more in hydroponics (growing crops efficiently indoors, without soil), which is what many countries are looking into. Or we could create GM crops.


Many things threaten food security, such as crop or animal diseases, pests and climate change. Weather is becoming more unpredictable and extreme weather is becoming commonplace which is taking its toll on farmers worldwide. The idea behind many GMOs is to address these problems.


Examples of GM Crops

An excellent example is golden rice. Around 250 million children are vitamin A-deficient in the world, which kills and blinds millions each year. While supplement distribution programs exist, they’re expensive and difficult to sustain. The solution? Golden rice.

Researchers added two genes to white rice, one from a soil bacterium and another from the daffodil, which synthesize a precursor of vitamin A called beta-carotene. This pigment makes various foods orange and hence makes the rice appear golden. The daffodil gene was later swapped for a corn gene to further increase the amount of beta-carotene produced.

White rice is a staple food in many countries but it’s not usually a source of vitamin A. One bowl of golden rice meets 60% of a child’s daily vitamin A needs. However, this product has been met with significant opposition, especially from Greenpeace, mainly because many people believe it will lead to widespread acceptance of GMOs. The fact remains: it’s a viable solution to a real world problem. It was also developed by foundation-funded academic researchers and a nonprofit organization, not a big private corporation.


You may also be surprised to find out that around 85% of corn grown in the U.S. is genetically modified. Soy is also heavily genetically modified; one particular soybean was engineered to produce high levels of oleic acid because it is thought that this may lower LDL cholesterol, or “bad cholesterol.”

Controversies Surrounding GMOs

There are many controversies surrounding this topic. Some are complete myths, while others raise valid issues.

Labeling

It is estimated that as much as 90% of commodity crops used in the U.S.’s food supply are genetically modified. Few people are aware of the extent of GMOs because the food industry does not label them through fear of sparking safety concerns in customers. Some have suggested that labeling would be like putting a skull and crossbones on packaging; however, people argue that they should be able to know what they are eating so that they can make an informed choice.

Mandatory label laws have come into place in certain countries, but they have not resulted in the anticipated reaction. Instead, they have led to an increased pressure for retailers to stop stocking GM products which has reduced consumer choice and at times raised prices. It should be stressed that despite decades of testing, there is no evidence that genetically modified foods are intrinsically more dangerous or worse for you than unmodified food. This fear-mongering then, can come across as anti-science.

Transparency is a hallmark of good science, but when the public does not fully understand the topic it can fuel fear. Mandatory labeling is therefore a complex issue with valid points from both sides. "GMO" is a fairly meaningless term when applied alone. Genetic modification is just a technique, it is not inherently dangerous. As with all techniques, it's how it's used that matters. Labeling food as "GMO" wouldn't tell you how it was modified, just that it was. A food label with "GMO" written on it really doesn't tell you anything more than "there's science in this food".

Risks To Health

While the genes inserted into organisms occur naturally in other species, there are concerns that altering the natural genome may have unknown consequences. For example, modifications may change the organism’s metabolism or growth rate. There are also concerns that GM foods may expose new allergens to humans or transfer antibiotic-resistant genes to the bacteria naturally found in our gut.

A lot of fear was sparked about the safety of GM foods after a scientist named Gilles-Eric Séralini published a study that found rats fed with Monsanto’s glyphosphate-resistant corn developed more tumors and died earlier than controls. After these results, many demanded tighter regulations whereas others called for an outright ban on the corn. However, numerous problems with the study came to light which led to its retraction from the journal.

First off, Séralini is an outspoken anti-GMO activist. At the time of initial publication he had conflicting interests- he was releasing a book and a documentary on the research. For the experiments, Séralini used Sprague-Dawley rats that are prone to developing spontaneous tumors. He also only used 10 rats for each group, for a period of two years which is almost a rat’s lifespan. The study was described as a "statistical fishing trip" by reviewers - if you test enough variables for long enough, you'll get a result from something. This is not good science. The recommendation for carcinogenicity studies is that 65 or more of each sex should be used. There is a high probability that the results were due to chance.

Furthermore, there have been mounds of better designed studies that have found no health issues, further suggesting that poor study design is the likely reason for the results, not the GM maize.

Terminator Seeds

Research on genetic use restriction techniques (GURT), or more commonly “terminator seeds” or “suicide seeds,” aims to produce sterile seeds/offspring so that if modified plants escape, they cannot propagate in the environment. The idea that companies use these to force farmers into continually buying seeds is a myth.

This technology would be useful in the development of “bioreactor” plants, for example those used in the production of pharmaceutical products such as antibodies or drugs to stop unintended gene release.

People don’t realize that sterile plants are already widely used- take a look at seedless bananas or grapes, but have they enslaved farmers? This technology is necessary and restrictions in the development of GURT harm research into the generation of beneficial crops.



Separating Corporation from Technology

Everyone has heard of Monsanto, and this company is frequently cited as a reason to oppose GMOs. While Monsanto’s business practices may be ethically questionable, Monsanto are not the only company involved in GMO research. Many non-profit organizations and academic institutions are involved in this field. The technology is necessary and disagreeing with Monsanto and having anti-corporation values should not muddy your views on GMOs. If you have a problem with Monsanto, have a problem with Monsanto. Don't extend that to every application of GMOs.



GM Crops Result In Superweeds

Many farmers use herbicide resistant crop varieties, for example GM cotton that can tolerate Roundup. This was very successful initially until herbicide resistant weeds evolved and rampantly spread in various countries, causing huge crop losses. While it has been argued that these GM crops encourage the evolution of herbicide resistance through liberal use, the fact is: it happens whether we use GM crops or not.

Monsanto argued that farmers did not need to adopt traditional methods used alongside herbicides such as crop rotation or varying the chemicals used, which slow herbicide resistance. The studies they carried out in support of this statement were flawed and criticized, which has now led to Monsanto changing its stance and encouraging plowing and a mix of herbicides.

Herbicide resistant crops do have their merits, though, and have caused a significant reduction in herbicide usage and an improvement on environmental impact.


Unintended Spread Of Genes

There has been concern that genes used in the development of GM crops may unintentionally spread to other organisms through a mechanism called horizontal gene transfer. For example, antibiotic resistance genes are regularly used in the process of genetic modification, and there is concern these genes may spread into bacteria, animals or humans, encouraging the spread of disease. While this is a possibility, studies have found that the risks are negligible and that transfer rates are exceedingly low. However, recommendations have been made to avoid using antibiotic resistance genes in creating GMOs.

Outcrossing

A final concern with GM crops is that genes may spread from these plants into conventional crops or related species found in nearby areas, a process known as outcrossing. This could have ecological consequences, such as an increase in fitness or a decrease in genetic diversity. These risks are recognized and measures have been adopted to minimize them, for example engineering the plants so that transgenes are not incorporated into pollen or separating fields containing GM crops and conventional crops.


Genetic modification is simply a tool. Like all tools, the application is what matters. All new technologies require review and testing, but fears should be based on science and evidence, not a lack of understanding when it comes to new science.

"Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man" - Thomas Jefferson

"There is not one redeeming feature in our superstition of Christianity. It has made one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites." - Thomas Jefferson

"Lighthouses are more useful than churches." - Ben Franklin

"This would be the best of all possible worlds if there were no religion in it" - John Adams

"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit." - Thomas Paine

“The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion.” (Treaty of Tripoli, Article 11: Written during the Administration of George Washington and signed into law by John Adams.)

"Religion and government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together." - James Madison

"Accustom a people to believe that priests and clergy can forgive sins...and you will have sins in abundance." - Thomas Paine

". . . Thirteen governments [of the original states] thus founded on the natural authority of the people alone, without a pretense of miracle or mystery, and which are destined to spread over the northern part of that whole quarter of the globe, are a great point gained in favor of the rights of mankind." - John Adams

"We discover in the gospels a groundwork of vulgar ignorance, of things impossible, of superstition, fanaticism and fabrication." - Thomas Jefferson

"Christianity neither is, nor ever was, a part of the Common Law." - Thomas Jefferson

"In the affairs of the world, men are saved not by faith, but by the lack of it." - Ben Franklin

"What is it the New Testament teaches us? To believe that the Almighty committed debauchery with a woman engaged to be married; and the belief of this debauchery is called faith." - Thomas Paine

"The study of theology, as it stands in the Christian churches, is the study of nothing; it is founded on nothing; it rests on no principles; it proceeds by no authority; it has no data; it can demonstrate nothing; and it admits of no conclusion." - Thomas Paine

"The United States of America should have a foundation free from the influence of clergy." - George Washington

"The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason." -- Ben Franklin

"Religion I found to be without any tendency to inspire, promote, or confirm morality, serves principally to divide us and make us unfriendly to one another." -- Ben Franklin

Note to self:

Vicodin is hydrocodone with Acetominophen. Taking too much can cause APAP toxicity.

Percoset is oxycodone with Acetominophen.

Oxycontin is time-released Oxycodone.

Toll the Great Bell Once!
Pull the Lever forward to engage the
Piston and Pump...
Toll the Great Bell Twice!
With a push of Button a fire the Engine
And spark Turbine into life...
Toll the Great Bell Thrice!
Sing Praise to the
God of All Machines
Catechism of the Autoculus of Mars

"Any epiphanies about gender politics were a projection of your feminine insecurity."

Best quote of Rick and Morty.

Psychedelic philosopher Alan Watts may have been right when he wrote that we “cannot be more sensitive to pleasure without being more sensitive to pain.” Prescriptions for SSRIs and MAOIs increased more than 400% over a 20 year interval, all with the aim of boosting serotonin levels to promote happiness and reduce anxiety. Yet millions of years of evolution have witnessed a menagerie of venomous animals independently leveraging serotonin for a contradictory effect: the infliction of excruciating pain.

Ninety percent of our serotonin keeps the gastrointestinal system running properly. In the central nervous system, serotonin is responsible for mediating a wide range of feelings including pleasure, contentedness and even appetite and sleep. Antidepressants work by extend the life of serotonin either by blocking enzymes that normally clear it from circulation (MAOIs) or by preventing its reuptake from synapses in the brain (SSRIs). The result is usually a dramatic improvement in one’s sense of well-being.

It’s ironic that an agent of such happiness is equally responsible for so much misery. Subcutaneous injection of even minuscule quantities of serotonin will cause pain sensing neurons called nociceptors to fire wildly. The resulting dump of prostaglandins, bradykinin and substance P results in a state of hyperalgesia; Greek for “above pain.”

No wonder then that so many animals have deployed serotonin in their own defense. The searing pain of a hornet sting is caused in large part by the presence of serotonin in its complex venomous cocktail. So too is the agony inflicted by some sea urchin stings.

Amazingly, the deployment of serotonin in the chemical arsenal of venom cuts a wide swath across invertebrates and even some vertebrates detailed in a new book “Poison: Sinister Species with Deadly Consequences” by Dr. Mark Siddall of the American Museum of Natural History in New York city. 



The deathstalker scorpion (Leiurus quinquestriatus) ranges from North Africa to Pakistan. in addition to serotonin, the deathstalker’s venom includes a lethal mix of agitoxins, charybdotoxin, chlorotoxin, and scyllatoxin.



Species of Phoenuetria, including the wandering spiders and banana spiders are feared for their aggressive behaviour. And rightly-so. A huge dose of serotonin allows them to inflict some of the most painful spider bites. Another venom compound, PhTx3, can result in painful priapism. 



A lot of the lasting damage caused by the venom-soaked foot-long serrated barb of a blue spotted stingray (Neotrygon kuhlii) is due to flesh liquefying enzymes combined with some serotonin just to make sure it’s painful. 



The tenacious bites of Gila monsters (Heloderma suspectum) squeeze venom along grooved lower teeth - which is made only more painful by the presence of serotonin.  Other venom components include hypothermia inducing helothermine, and exendin-4 a synthetic version of which is now a blockbuster drug for controlling type-2 diabetes.



The flashing iridescent patterns on each of three species of Hapalochlaena belie a dangerous beauty. A blue-ringed octopus bite comprises a dizzying neuroactive cocktail of serotonin, tryptamine, octopamine, tyramine, and acetylcholine along with a deadly dose of tetrodotoxin.

From a distance, the city was obscured by a looming wall of churning black clouds, it's underside lit with the fires of industry below. From within the inky depths of the roiling clouds came the occasional flash of lightning burning arcs through the smog while thunder echoed across the empty plains. Surrounding the city were titanic walls, monolithic slabs of riveted steel and concrete, bleeding rust as the incessant rain from the ever-present clouds dripped onto the grinding, clanking metalworks below. Every surface was stained with rust, ash, or the oily residue of rainfall that bit and stung flesh exposed to the elements.

The people, sulking, shifty individuals carted into the labyrinthine halls of the city by monorail carts from wherever the shadowy Corporation pulled them from; prisoners, desperate families, war-criminals, workers looking to duck past the surveyers long enough to obtain work pass. Given a rubber slicker and their work doctrines, they dispersed into the bowels of the city to fulfill whatever obligations they had been assigned.

With the thick clouds, day and night blended together into a continuous blur of grinding machinery and the hiss of pistons. Sleep came in short snippets for the workers, usually at the stations where the workers were assigned, always under the implacable, blank gaze of the gas-masked security forces employed by the Corporation to maintain order and put down and civil 'unrest' that may occur. The heavy thud of their boots on the metal grating and the glint from their rifles was more than enough to cow any dissidents with thoughts of stepping out of line.